Patent GB-190628230-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Portable Fire-escape Apparatus.
Inventor: OLNEY ALONZO SCHUYLER
Filed: 1906-12-11
Granted: 1907-12-11
Abstract: 28,230. Lake, H. H., [Olney, A. S.]. Dec. 11. Fire-escape type of apparatus; cranes; window attachments to facilitate lifting. -Relates to portable fire-escapes of the kind in which an extensible telescopic standard is mounted on a turntable on a wheeled truck, and is adapted to form a support for a pulley, from which a cage is suspended. Fig. 1 is an elevation of the whole apparatus ; Fig. 5 shows in detail the construction of the turntable ; Fig. 9 is a sectional plan, and Fig. 11 a sectional elevation of the mast and extending- mechanism; and Fig. 13 shows the device for locking the sections together. The standard A is mounted on trunnions 10, and is elevated to any desired angle by a pinion 16<1> which engages the toothed segment 15. The supports of the trunnions 10 are carried on a turntable C, Fig. 5, which turns on a central pin and is supported by a circle of rollers 43. The strain on the central pin due to the inclined position of the standard is relieved by the overlapping plates 40, 42. The turntable is revolved by means of a pinion which engages a circular rack. The standard, which is shown more particularly in Figs. 9 and 11, comprises a number of telescopic sections, each composed of a light skeleton framework of wood or iron and adapted to slide in guides formed on the adjacent sections. The central member is solid, and the lowest or outside member is pivoted in the trunnions 10. The standard is extended by means of a rope 27, which passes from a winch barrel 20 round pulleys mounted at the ends of each section, thence under a pulley 29 at the lower end of the central section, and back in a similar manner to a second barrel 21 geared by spur teeth to the barrel 20. When the winch is rotated, the central section is first raised to its fullest extent, and the other sections are then raised in turn. Each section is locked until the preceding one is fully extended by means of the device shown in Fig. 13. Catches 60, pivotally attached to a corner post of each section, are provided with lugs 66 normally engaging recesses 67 in the next larger section, until released by tripping-stops 68 carried at the lower end of the next smaller section. The standard is retained in its extended position by locking the drums or by gripping the cable, and is steadied by guy-ropes attached to the bracket E and passing round small reels fixed at some distance on opposite sides of the truck. Poles 50, detachably connected by a bayonet-joint to sockets carried on the lower portion of the standard, may also be used. The upper end of the standard is fitted with a bracket E, Fig. 1, carrying a sheave 32 round which is passed a cable 30 for raising and lowering the cage, the other end of the rope passing to a winding-drum 25, Fig. 11. The bracket has a downwardly-projecting arm E<1> provided with a gripping-member 35 for engaging a window sill &c., and has also a claw 37 for engaging the window frame. A wheel 38 prevents the bracket E from catching on projecting parts of the building as the standard is being raised.